Specimen archive

Abstract

An apparatus for archiving specimens in specimen vessels. The apparatus includes an archive room accessible via a lock for automated feeding of vessels into and out of the room. A storage and restacking system is disposed in the room and includes two side-by-side stacks of trays in a receiving area. Each tray has a receptacle area defining a plurality of receptacles therein, each configured to receive a single vessel. A stacking means forms the stacks of trays. One tray is stacked on another in such a way as to maintain a clearance relative to the receptacle area of the lower tray. A lifting means is provided for vertically lifting trays stacked on a selected tray; and a transfer means is provided for horizontal transfer of a selected tray from one stack to the other, or from one stack to the lock, or from the lock to one of the stacks.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of European Patent Application Serial No. EP 12 161 434.1, filed Mar. 27, 2012.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Technical Field[0003]The invention relates to an apparatus for archiving a plurality of specimens contained in specimen vessels, particularly medical and / or biological specimens. The invention further relates to a method for removing a selected specimen vessel containing a specimen, particularly a medical and / or biological specimen, from an archive room.[0004]2. Background Information[0005]It is known in the art that, following completion of a specimen analysis, for example a medical specimen in a medical analysis laboratory, said specimen must be stored for a certain period of time, while clearly maintaining an identification and allocation of the specimen to a specimen origin, for purposes of documentation and conducting, for example, control analyses or further specimen testing. Correspo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides an improved apparatus for archiving a plurality of specimens in specimen vessels, particularly medical and / or biological specimens. The apparatus allows for compact storage of the specimens in the archive room while providing reliable, faster, and easier accessibility of the stored specimens for extracting a selected specimen vessel. The invention includes a method for extracting a selected specimen vessel containing a specimen, particularly a medical and / or biological specimen, from an archive room. The apparatus includes rollers that allow for vertical movement of the individual specimen trays via the transfer means after the specimen tray that is to be transferred has been detached from the adjacent specimen trays thereof via the lifting means and has been released relative to the same. The implementation and embodiment according to the invention allows that, while the extracted specimen tray undergoes further processing, a further extraction order is already being prepared inside the archive room, and the stacks with the specimen trays are restacked once again as described above, until a specimen tray that must be extracted subsequently is located in the area of the lock. The invention solves the problem of the initial extracted specimen tray having to be returned and resorted at exactly the same position from which it was taken, allowing for quicker and easier removal of the next specimen.

Problems solved by technology

Disadvantageously, this system requires a large three-dimensional space for embodying the continuous drive system, particularly in the top and bottom sections of the archive room at the turn-around points; this volume is not available for specimen storage.

In other words, the ratio of the number of possible specimens that can be stored and the necessary volume of the receptacle space is comparatively unfavorable, whereby the storage density of the specimens is correspondingly low.

This means, in a limited space, it is only possible to store a small number or specimens, or a larger storage space must be provided for depositing a certain number of specimens, associated with additional expenditure.

Particularly if a refrigerated storage of specimens is compulsory, as is required for various medical or biological specimens, such an unfavorable volume ratio also results in higher operating costs, as a comparatively small number of stored specimens requires the cooling of a comparatively large three-dimensional space.

In addition, outfeeding times are comparatively long for specimens if it is necessary to remove two specimens in sequence from a comparatively fully stocked archive that are located on different compartment levels.

For example, if a comparatively large specimen sample carrier must be removed from a first storage space in a first compartment, the system is not able to advance the drive for moving the compartments already at that time and restack the compartments for the removal of a further, smaller sample carrier from another compartment, if only a smaller sample carrier must be removed from the further compartment.

At any rate, after handling the first sample carrier from which a specimen is removed, said sample carrier cannot easily be returned into the archive; rather, it is necessary to move that compartment back to face the lock that offers a receiving space for the sample carrier.

Especially, the dwelling time of specimens requiring refrigeration is thus prolonged inside the lock, which is typically not refrigerated, and can result in excessive heating of the further specimens located on the sample carrier, possibly damaging them.

Although this solution allows for compact storage of the samples in the actual archive room, a large-dimensioned lock however, requires a corresponding amount of construction space in the vertical direction, because it is necessary to dispose a height-adjustable extraction system.

Therefore, this solution also results in an unfavorable ratio of available space versus usage of space, accompanied by the associated excess costs.

This system suffers from the same disadvantages as the system that was disclosed as the first embodiment in US 2007 / 0172396 A1.

The above system also suffers from the disadvantage that a space must be reserved for trips executed by the extraction system, which, once again, cannot be used as storage space in the archive room, resulting only in an unfavorable utilization of the archive room relative to the number of the specimens to be stored therein.

This causes a particularly unfavorable cost effect when the archive room must be refrigerated.

In the known solution according to the prior art that called for a “rotary elevator,” the individual specimen trays are disposed inside holders in such a way that there exists even greater play between the specimen trays such that space is being wasted in this regard as well.

Such a compact and dense storage capacity of specimens in such a restricted space has been unknown to date.

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